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Marc-Andre Fleury: Won’t Make Or Break Post-Season Alone

By Catherine Silverman

Dec 12, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) guards the net against the Calgary Flames during the third period at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Penguins won 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 12, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) guards the net against the Calgary Flames during the third period at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Penguins won 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /
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Former head coach Dan Bylsma discusses the unfair burden placed on Marc-Andre Fleury

Marc-Andre Fleury is already thirty, but you wouldn’t know it from the comments made about him around the league.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins number one goaltender has become synonymous with post-season collapses — of all the netminders around the league, he’s arguably given the biggest burden to bear when it comes to carrying the blame following a bad post-season.

Well, that is, after the team’s former head coach.

Earlier this week, former Penguins coach Dan Bylsma — fired in the off-season following yet another dissapointing playoff run — spoke on Marc-Andre Fleury and the way the goalie is blamed for far more than he deserves.

Bylsma made it clear that a phenomenal save percentage mat be synonymous with a good playoff run, but it isn’t always a reflection of how the netminder player alone — he touched on the lack of support given to Fleury by his teammates on defense during his iconic collapses.

Anyone who witnessed this past playoff run can attest to this; with three separate blown two-goal leads against the Columbus Blue Jackets alone, there’s only so much finger-pointing that can be done at the net.

Of course, much of that can be attributed to poor coaching — yet Bylsma remains optimistic that he can be behind the bench of an NHL team sooner rather than later. He talked of his confidence that he’ll find a new home by next season, alluding to his willingness to step in for one of the countless teams vastly underperforming so far this season. With Arizona, San Jose, New Jersey, and even the Dallas Stars sitting in the standings far lower than anticipated, Bylsma has plenty of reason to be optimistic.

He praised the way that Fleury has taken off this season, and there’s no denying that he’s got a point. With his team looking more powerful than they did under him for quite a few seasons, though, Bylsma may be stuck watching from the outside-in until Fleury either chokes on a playoff run without him or a GM decides he’s worth the risk. Either way, he’s spending at the very least this Christmas still very much out of the NHL.

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